48 Bean Soup

Not long ago, The Mr. and I walked into our favorite watering hole and wanted something to eat.  "Hey Johnny, what's the soup today?" I asked.

"I don't know... 48-bean soup or something like that," the barkeep answered.

"Forty-eight?" I doubted. 

"Well if you don't believe me, order it up and count 'em," Johnny smiled.

Well, I did order it.  And I did count them (but I got distracted after the tenth bean and lost count)  Really, it's not 48 Bean Soup.  To be honest, I don't even know if there are 48 different kinds of beans that exist.  It's actually 16 Bean soup, but the joke title stems from interactions we've continued having at this favorite pub regarding this soup. 

The Mr. and I love this soup, so whenever we go to the pub, I always ask Johnny what soup they're serving that day, hoping this is the one on the menu. His responses range anywhere from "18-bean" to "59-bean," depending on how mischievous he's feeling that day, but I seem to remember "48-bean" being the one he uses most as an answer. 

One day, a fellow patron overheard Johnny's response, and playfully exclaimed "That's a lie! There aren't even 48 different kinds of beans!"

"Yeah?" Johnny smirked, "Well order it up and count 'em if you don't believe me!"

Thus continues the joke of 48-bean soup.

Source:  based on the loose guidelines given to me from Gary, the cook

Ingredients

2 T. butter 
3 carrots, sliced
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
12 c. water
1-2 ham hocks
1 lb. bag of 16 bean blend, presoaked and rinsed
Seasoning Packet (included in the bag of beans)
1 tsp. mustard powder
1/2 tsp. pepper
pinch of dried parsley
2 bay leaves
ham, cut into small cubes (I used cottage ham and cut it into small pieces)

Directions

1. In a large pot (I used my stock pot) melt the butter.  Saute the carrots, onion, celery, and garlic over medium high heat till onions are translucent.  

2.  Add the ham hocks, beans, seasoning packet, mustard powder, pepper, parsley, bay leaves, and water.  Bring to a boil. 

3.  Cover and reduce heat.  Simmer for 60 minutes.

4.  Remove ham hocks and add the cubed ham pieces. Continue simmering for 30 additional minutes.  While the soup simmers, trim any usable meat off of the ham bone and toss it back in the soup.  Discard the bone.

5.  Serve hot to warm up a cold, rainy day :)



Verdict: Keeper!!

Honestly, I'm pretty proud of my creation.  Next time, I will probably simmer the soup a bit longer before adding the ham pieces, simply because I like my beans mushier than they turned out here.  If I change anything with the ingredients, I may use a little less ham, or one ham hock instead of two (to cut down on the salt).  Other than that, this one definitely earns a permanent spot in the recipe box.

Black Bean Soup

For me, soups are like appetizers-- I don't think I've ever encountered one that I didn't like! So when I found a recipe for a black bean soup, I immediately wanted to try it.  Beans are good for you, and cheap, so how bad could it be?  

This recipe did not disappoint, and it is now on the regular rotation for The Mr. and I.

Source:  Cooking Light, March 2009

Ingredients:

1 lb. dry black beans
4 c. chicken broth
1 c. water
2 c. onions (but I only had about 1 cup available)
1 jalapeno-- ribbed, seeded, and minced (This was my first time cooking with a fresh jalapeno, so I had to learn how to work with the pepper. I found this website that was very helpful.)
3 bay leaves
1 T. cumin
1 T. lime juice
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
3 T. sour cream
Cilantro sprigs, optional

Directions:

Soak the beans overnight in bowl of water.  To do this, cover the beans so that the water is at least 2 inches higher than the beans. Let soak overnight (8 hours) Drain when ready to use.

In a CrockPot, combine beans, water, broth, bay leaves, cumin, onion, and jalapeno.  Cook on LOW for 10 hours.

After cooking all day, add lime juice, salt, and chopped cilantro. (Before serving, I pureed the soup using an immersion blender to make it creamier, even though the original recipe did not call for this.)

Serve with sour cream and hot sauce, and garnish with sprigs of cilantro.

Verdict:

It's a keeper!  I'm glad I pureed it a bit, because I really liked the creamy texture.  

Black Bean Salsa

If you can scoop it, dip it, swirl it, or otherwise put it on a chip and eat it, I love it. 

So, after experiencing  a "Girl's Night In" with margaritas and this Black Bean Salsa, I had to get the recipe and try it myself.  For me, it's the perfect salsa-- because it's not spicy.  If I wanted to get adventurous, and knew that I'd have a heat-seeking audience, I could add some chopped jalapenos to the mixture...  but I prefer flavor to flaming heat, so this one is for me :) 

Source:  My friend who doesn't like to be identified online, so we'll call her "Kiki."  

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can corn, drained (she said she sometimes uses the corn with red peppers mixed in, but I didn't for this version)

1 can of diced tomatoes (or one fresh tomato, chopped)

1 small red onion, chopped

1/4 c. lime juice

1 tsp. ground cumin

fresh cilantro (I used 5 sprigs, chopped... we'll see if I need to add more after I take it to the party!)  

Verdict:

Oh, it's a keeper-- and others thought so, too :) 

Bean and Ham Soup

For the longest time, I would walk by the bags of dried beans in the grocery store, wondering what it would be like to cook with them.  It's only been within the last year and a half that I conquered my fear of "real rice," and since the real rice is located right next to the dried beans, they've become next on the list of items to conquer.

Once I found an excuse to buy a bag of beans, I was then introduced to another decision-- the "quick-soak method" or the "overnight soak method."  In my soul, I have always felt that good things are worth waiting for; as a result, I chose to let the beans soak for 8 hours during the day.  (It's been my experience that whenever I choose to do a "quick method" of anything, it ends up being a bad decision.) Being that it was a snow day, it gave me something productive to do while I watched the snow plows do their work. It also gave me good excuse to keep peeking in the kitchen to see if the beans were doing anything in that big bowl of water.  I felt like a kid waiting for sea-monkeys to hatch!

Save yourself the suspense-- they don't do a whole lot :)

This soup made the house smell fantastic, and I'm anxious to share it with family members-- because like so many of my recent recipes, this made enough to feed a small army!

Ingredients:

2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
2 T. butter
12 c. water (Yes, this is a lot of water, but don't be alarmed-- it will boil down and thicken considerably)
1 ham hock
1 lb. dried Great Northern beans, presoaked and rinsed
1 tsp. mustard powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 bay leaves
2 c. chopped ham (I used a one-pound package of the pre-cooked, cubed ham)

Directions:

1. Saute carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in a soup pot till onion is clear (I used my trusty cast-iron Dutch oven)

2.  Add water, beans, mustard powder, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and ham hock.  Bring to a boil.

3.  Reduce heat and simmer for 60 minutes. (I did not cover the pot, because I wanted it to boil down a bit.  Next time, I might cover it for part of the cooking time, just to see how it affects the consistency.)

4.  Remove bone, add chopped ham.  Simmer another 30 minutes.

Verdict: Keeper
I want to see what other cubed/chopped ham options are available to me, because that was the one aspect I felt lacked a little flavor.